Beijing - The Chinese death toll from Typhoon Hagupit rose to 10 with at least two people still missing as the storm brought gales and torrential rain to much of southern China, state media said on Thursday.

Floods, landslides and wind damage caused by the typhoon affected 8.73 million residents and 400,000 hectares of crops in Guangdong province and the nearby Guangxi region, the official Xinhua news agency said.

About 18,500 houses collapsed, and estimated direct economic losses reached 6.3 billion yuan (923.7 million dollars), the agency said.

The island province of Hainan evacuated about 107,000 people from vulnerable areas before the typhoon arrived early Wednesday while two cities in nearby Guangdong moved more than 38,000 people.

Hagupit made landfall in Guangdong's Dianbai county near the city of Maoming, packing winds of more than 200 kilometres per hour at its centre, reports said.

It weakened into a tropical storm later Wednesday but continued to bring heavy rain to parts of southern and south-western China Thursday.

Typhoon Hagupit, whose name means "lashing" in Filipino, caused eight deaths in the Philippines before crossing the South China Sea. (dpa)